A division bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and KV Viswanathan was hearing a plea challenging an eligibility criterion for taking the Joint Entrance Examination (Advanced), through which admission to various undergraduate programmes across Indian Institutes of Technology is carried out. 

“2016, 2017, 2018…This condition has always been there that students must have secured 75 per cent,” Justice Dhulia pointed out, before asking, “Why, then, should we interfere?”

During the Court hearing, the counsel for the petitioners mentioned that their fundamental rights were violated due to the decision of the National Testing Agency, responsible for conducting the entrance examination – to not extend the waiver of the academic performance-related criteria after the coronavirus pandemic.

Further, he submitted -

“This condition was waived during COVID-19. During that time, the National Testing Agency allowed students to take the JEE Advanced examination without the assessment in Class XII. These students who were allowed during the pandemic are not being permitted to take the examination because this condition is brought back. Some of these students have obtained more than 98.8 per cent in JEE Mains.”

“There are thousands of students all over India. So many of them have approached me. They have performed exceedingly well in JEE Mains but not allowed to take the subsequent examination because this condition is revived. These are meritorious students.”

Between the trials,  Justice Dhulia asked the Counsel -

“Why don’t you approach the high court?”

 “This is not a matter we want to get into.” “These are education matters. We have to defer to the experts,” Justice Viswanathan added.

Case Title -Chandan Kumar & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors